Paper products, particularly paper webs, are useful for a wide variety of applications. Such paper products include various consumer products such as facial tissues, bath tissues, paper towels, industrial wipers, and other similar personal care articles.
Typically, In making various paper products, an aqueous suspension containing pulp fibers is first formed. The aqueous suspension can then be spread out over a forming surface in order to form a paper web. The forming surface generally includes one or more endless conveyors which are formed from a porous fabric. The porous fabric conveyors can be made from metal, plastic or any other suitable material.
In one embodiment, especially when forming low basis weight paper products such as tissues, the non-woven web is formed in between a pair of forming fabrics. More specifically, in these systems, an aqueous suspension of fibers is injected onto one or in between a pair of moving fabrics as the fabrics are placed adjacent to one another by a breast roll. The fabrics can then be wrapped around another roll, which is generally referred to as a forming roll. The forming roll, and sometimes the breast roll, assist in draining liquids from the web. These types of systems are typically referred to as ‘roll formers’. Examples of roll formers include twin-wire systems and crescent-former systems.
In the past, many attempts have been made to enhance and increase certain physical properties of paper products and other similar articles. Unfortunately, however, when steps are usually taken to increase one property of a paper web, other characteristics of the web may be adversely affected. As such, a need exists for a process that can control properties of the web, such as tensile, tear, toughness, stretch, and burst, without adversely effecting the overall quality of the web.
In many applications, in addition to the importance of optimizing physical properties, it is important for the paper product to be visually appealing. Consequently, many attempts have been made to design a paper product having aesthetic appeal by printing, embossing or otherwise forming various patterns on the product. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,076 to Trokhan et al, which is incorporated herein by reference to the extent it is not contradictory herewith, discloses a single lamina cellulosic fibrous structure having at least two regions disposed in a nonrandom, repeating pattern. The two regions are distinguished from one another by basis weight. PCT Application having Publication Number WO 96/35018, which is also incorporated herein by reference to the extent it is not contradictory herewith, discloses tissue sheets having a distinct decorative pattern formed by varying the basis weight of the sheet.
The present invention is directed to a process for forming distinctive paper products that not only can have enhanced physical properties, but can also be designed to have an enhanced appearance.